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Summary: Mistry Creates Realistic, Compelling Characters
Review: The characters in this novel are so realistic and captivating, you will feel to compelled follow their daily lives in this excellent, heart-warming story. Mistry provides insight into the thoughts and actions of a middle-class,hard-working Indian family man with such depth, and the descriptions of the settings are so accurate and detailed. Every character, minor or major, has a story of their own and we see both sides of each conflict. Truly a must-read.
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Summary: A novel of time, place, and relationships.
Review: The protagonist is the father of a struggling middle class (by Indian standards) family in 1971 Bombay. Neither the father, nor any of the other main characters, are particularly interesting, or subtly defined. Yet this is quite a good book. It recreates very effectively a time and place, and manages to be realistic without being depressing; human courage, virtue and spirit survive squalor and corruption. The novel is a story of relationships more than of character: between the father and his family, his neighbors, and his friends, which include a business colleague, a retarded adult, a sidewalk religious painter, and something of a political hero.
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Summary: Beautiful depiction of middle-class Bombay life
Review: The story of a struggling Parsi family. Sound familiar? Mistry's prose is as excellent here as in A Fine Balance; but this is shorter and less tragic.
Oprah should have chosen this one, but the anti-Indira Gandhi stuff probably went a bit over her head =)
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Summary: Life is but a journey
Review: This book left me to wonder what exactly does the author intends to achieve and convey with this book. When I reached the last page, the story falls into place. Gustad's aspirations for his sons, the emotional wall he build to shield himelf from being hurt are no different than what most of us feel. The story does not reveal anything elaborate or on a big scale, and yet it reveals that our life is a journey and there is seldom much excitement and seldom we have all our questions answered. I enjoyed the reading.
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Summary: fascinating !
Review: This book represents india, as it is and specifically the Parsis. The characters are well developed and the style is great ! rohinton Mistry fantastically creats the image of a middle class man through Gustad Noble, with his dreams and ambitions for his children. This book is very dear to me because i have been in contact of Parsis and it truely represents their lovely nature.... and Parsis are fundoo people !
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Summary: Really good, but not as incredible as A Fine Balance
Review: This book was touching and well-written, but it didn't have the powerful heartbreaking ability or emotional resonance of A Fine Balance. I would recommend it, but make sure you read this one before you read his others. His style definitely developed over time, as is evident in the artistry of A Fine Balance. He is an amazing author whose works I enjoy. I also thought Family Matters was a better novel.
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Summary: A Good Read
Review: This interesting first novel tackles several long journeys -- India's transformation from the raj to a brawling, corrupt, mismanaged, constantly at-war democracy under Indira Gandhi; Bombay resident Gustad Noble's economic decline from a kind of family prominence and prosperity under the Brits; and, most directly, Noble's rise in understanding, breadth of spirit, friendship, and accommodation to what India has become, warts and all. Readers who delight in plot development may be disappointed. There are plots and subplots of sorts in this book -- will Noble's son reject a shot at an engineering degree? will his daughter regain her health? will a former neighbor, now in New Delhi, be found out as a good guy or a bad guy? will a prized homage to spirituality survive the wrecker's ball? will the bank manager learn the truth about some misguided deposits and spill the beans? will the simpleton get the, uh, girl? -- but, to me at least, these stories appear and drift away without careful crafting or much urgency in the telling. Rather, Mistry uses his plot lines more as opportunities to describe modern Indian society, in its complexity, and Noble's passage through it. Mistry's central characters are full, interesting, and idiosyncratic. His minor characters -- the politically active prostitutes, the apartment dweller practicing the black arts, the bureaucrats and politicians, the speedtalking simpleton -- are persons we have seen before. Excellent political satire sometimes veers toward cartoons. Still, sentence by sentence, Mistry writes well and with sensitivity to his characters' inner lives. This is not world-class fiction, but it is a good read, especially for persons with an international bent who are not put off by detail.
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Summary: Fans of R.K.Narayan have one more author to look forward to
Review: This is storytelling at its best. Gentle humour, and empathy with all characters. Mistry develops his characters and surroundings in great details. I can visualize the 'Khodadad Building' in front of my eyes. I read this book after reading 'A Fine Balance' and was kind of dreading the end because I was expecting it would all end horribly. (Ofcourse, that does not take anything away from that book - a very moving tale). So it was an added bonus when the end was a softer landing.
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Summary: Two Thumbs down!
Review: This novel was not only disgusting but it provokes feelings of hostility between Indians and Pakistanis. Writers should work to clear up any misunderstandings to make the situation better. Instead this author attempts to make the matters worse. By using abusive language for Pakistanis, Mistry has shown his narrow-mindedness. It is amazing how all the education the writer had have, made no difference to his prejudised mind.
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Summary: Good
Review: Unlike a number of you, I hadn't read A Fine Balance when I decided to read this book--it was my first encounter with Mistry's writing.
I found it occasionally slow-moving and densely detailed, and for that reason it took me much longer to get through than most books of its size, but I also found it ultimately rewarding. I liked the characters. They weren't thrilling, but I could identify with them (and since my life is not even remotely similar that must be a sign of a good writer).
Moreover, I found the overall quality of the writing to be superb in a quiet, unshowy way. It was not at all like many modern writers, who turn you off even as you admit that they write well. Instead, Mistry's style seems to be more old-fashioned. It is simple and unadorned, and it serves the story, rather than upstaging it.
Overall, I must say it was the very good introduction to Mistry's work
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